Kindle is designed as a dedicated e-reader. Indulge your love of reading without interruptions like email alerts and push notifications

Touchscreen display

New—A touchscreen interface makes it easier to use features like X-Ray, Goodreads, built-in dictionary, highlighting, and more. And with a glare-free screen that looks like real paper, you can read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room

Weeks-long battery life

Kindle does not require power to maintain a page of text, allowing you to read for weeks on a single charge.

Easy on the eyes

Every time your eyes switch from a bright screen to a dimmer, ambient room, your eyes have to adjust, which may result in fatigue. With Kindle, the page is the same brightness as everything else in the room, so there’s no adjustment needed.

Lighter than a paperback

Kindle is lighter than most paperback books, making it easy and comfortable to hold in one hand for extended periods of time.

Reads like the printed page

Kindle uses actual ink particles and proprietary, hand-built fonts to create crisp text similar to what you see in a physical book. The blacks and whites on the screen are uniform, improving text and image quality.

Sharp, dark text

Enjoy text that reads like the printed page. All fonts have been hand-tuned at the pixel level for maximum readability and comfort.

Take and share notes

Add margin notes that you can edit, delete, or even export from your device to your computer. Share highlighted sections and meaningful quotes on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads, and see passages frequently highlighted by other Kindle readers.

Flip through without losing your place

With Page Flip, you can skim page-by-page, scan by chapter, or skip to the end for a sneak peek without losing your place. Show me

Read comfortably in one hand

Lighter than most paperback books, comfortably hold Kindle in one hand for long reading sessions.

No distractions

Kindle is purposely designed as a dedicated e-reader. Indulge your love of reading without interruptions like email alerts or push notifications.

Look it up instantly

Smart Lookup integrates entries from The New Oxford American Dictionary with information from X-Ray and Wikipedia so you can access definitions, characters, settings, and more without leaving your page or losing your place. Show me

Share your library with family

New—Family Library links your Amazon account to that of your spouse or partner. For the first time, you and your family can access and easily share not only your own Kindle books, but also books from the Amazon account of a spouse or partner. Show me

Read more challenging books

New—Word Wise, available on many popular English language titles, makes it easier to enjoy and quickly understand more challenging books. Short and simple definitions automatically appear above difficult words, so you can keep reading with fewer interruptions. Tap on a word to bring up a simple card with definitions, synonyms, and more. You can adjust the number of hints you see with a simple slider. Show me

Learn more about a book before you start

New—With About This Book, see information about the book as you start to read, including its place in a series and author information, plus mark it as "Currently Reading" on Goodreads. Show me

Enhanced Search

New—It's even easier to find what you are looking for by combining and previewing results from your Library, Goodreads, and the Kindle Store on the same page. Show me

Carry your entire library

Kindle holds thousands of books, so you'll never have to leave your favorite titles behind.

In-line footnotes

With a single tap, read the complete text of each footnote without losing your place in the book. Show me

Never be without a book

Shop Amazon’s expansive selection, choose a title, and begin reading your next book in under 60 seconds—no computer required.

Squeeze in that last chapter

See at a glance how long it will take to finish a chapter or book. Time to Read is personalized based on your reading speed, and is constantly updated as your speed and habits change. Show me

Share with friends on Goodreads

With Goodreads on Kindle, you can connect with the largest online community of book lovers, see what your friends are reading, share highlights, and rate the books you read. With deeper integration, you can purchase books without leaving Goodreads on Kindle, and update your reading status more quickly from your device. Some Goodreads on Kindle features are only available when connected to Wi-Fi. Show me

Expanded X-Ray for books

X-Ray lets you explore the "Bones of the Book." See all the passages across a book that mention relevant ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places, or topics of interest. X-Ray’s new timeline view lets you easily flip through notable passages to remind yourself of what’s happened in the book, or navigate easily through images. Show me

Enhance your vocabulary

Words looked up in the dictionary are automatically added to Vocabulary Builder to expand your knowledge and reinforce retention. Swipe through your vocabulary words, quiz yourself with flashcards, and instantly see those words in context. Show me

Adjust your text size

Choose from eight text sizes to prevent tired eyes and keep you reading longer. Show me

Organize your books

Arrange your books into custom categories by using Cloud Collections.

Pick up where you left off

Whispersync technology synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks, and annotations across all your devices so you can pick up exactly where you left off reading.

Translate passages instantly

Tap any word or highlight a section to instantly translate it into other languages, including Spanish, Japanese, and more. Translations are provided by Bing Translator.

Lowest book prices

Over a million titles are priced at $4.99 or less. Over 2 million titles are $9.99 or less.

Kindle Unlimited

With Kindle Unlimited, you can read as much as you want, choosing from over 700,000 titles. From mysteries and romance to sci-fi and more, freely explore new authors, books, and genres on any device for just $9.99 a month. Try Kindle Unlimited free for 30 days. Learn more

Exclusive Kindle titles

Over 600,000 Kindle exclusive titles that you won't be able to find anywhere else, including books by best-selling authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Ian Fleming, Oliver Pötzsch, and Arthur C. Clarke.

Borrow from your public library

Massive selection

Millions of books, newspapers, and magazines, including the latest best sellers, Kindle Singles, and more.

Kindle MatchBook

For thousands of qualifying books, your past, present, and future print-edition purchases will allow you to buy the Kindle edition for $2.99 or less. Learn more

Free books in the public domain

Millions of titles in the public domain, such as Pride and Prejudice, are available for free.

Free book samples

Download and read a sample for free before you decide to buy.

Lend your books

Lend eligible Kindle books to other Kindle or Kindle app users for up to 14 days. Learn more

Kindle FreeTime

Encourage kids to read even more. Kindle FreeTime lets you create personalized profiles for kids, and give them access to titles from your collection of books. Kids are rewarded with achievement badges when they reach their goals. A progress report keeps parents updated on total time spent reading, number of words looked up, badges earned, and books read. Show me

Kindle FreeTime Unlimited

New—For as little as $2.99 per month, kids get unlimited access to hundreds of hand-picked chapter books and early readers, all curated for age-appropriateness, so parents don’t have to spend time and money guessing what their kids will enjoy. Includes favorites such as the Harry Potter series, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, Big Nate and Friends by Lincoln Peirce, and Newberry Medal and Honor winning books such as The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare, and Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. Show me

Read more challenging books

New—For kids reading their first chapter books, Word Wise, available on many popular English language titles, makes it easier to enjoy and quickly understand more challenging books. Short and simple definitions automatically appear above difficult words, so they can keep reading with fewer interruptions. Tap on a word to bring up a simple card with definitions, synonyms, and more. Kids can adjust the number of hints they see with a simple slider. Show me

Fewer distractions, more reading

Kindle is designed for reading, which means zero distractions for kids. With Kindle, they can look up definitions as they read to build their vocabulary and increase the font size for easier reading. They can read thousands of books for free, including classics like Treasure Island and eBooks from your local library. And they can easily take their books with them without loading up a heavy backpack.

Kindle in the classroom

The same great features that help adults lose themselves in a book on Kindle translate seamlessly to the classroom, engaging children and encouraging their interest in reading. Schools can centrally manage Kindle devices and send eBooks to students with Whispercast. Learn more

Power up their vocabulary

Kindle makes it easy for young readers to add new words to their vocabulary. Words looked up on Kindle are automatically added to Vocabulary Builder, where kids can quiz themselves with flashcards to reinforce new word retention. Show me

Official e-reader of the PTA

Kindle and the National PTA are working together to help families get more involved in their children's reading and enhance their emerging interest in books. In support of this mission, the PTA Family Reading Experience, Powered by Kindle—is available to local PTAs around the United States. Learn more

Borrow from your public library

Lend your books

Lend eligible Kindle books to other Kindle or Kindle app users for up to 14 days. Learn more

Connect wirelessly

New titles and archived items are a simple connection away. Connect easily to your home Wi-Fi network or Wi-Fi hotspots on the road.

Connect free at AT&T hotspots

Enjoy free Wi-Fi access at AT&T hotspots across the U.S.

Find a new favorite with Goodreads

Discover great books with Goodreads on Kindle, an integrated experience that makes it easier than ever to connect and share great reads with friends. Some Goodreads on Kindle features are only available when connected to Wi-Fi. Show me

Read on your smartphone, tablet, or computer

For those times when you don't have your Kindle with you, just download the Kindle app for your smartphone, tablet, or computer to read your Kindle books. Learn more

Never lose your place

Amazon's Whispersync technology remembers where you left off in a book, so you can seamlessly switch between your Kindle and the Kindle app on your smartphone, tablet, or computer without ever losing your place.

Better together

Slim, form-fitting covers designed by Amazon perfectly fit your Kindle and provide full front and back protection. The covers are easy to securely attach and remove, and fold back for easy one-handed reading. They automatically put your Kindle to sleep when it is closed and wake it upon opening, making it easy to jump back into your books.

A single charge lasts up to four weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage

Charge Time

Fully charges in approximately 4 hours from a computer via USB cable

Wi-Fi Connectivity

Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

Customize to your language

Kindle can be used in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, and Simplified Chinese. You can easily select the language that you are most comfortable with, and enjoy instant dictionary lookups in any of these languages.

Read books in other languages

Kindle supports the display of non-Latin characters, so you can read books and documents in your favorite language, including enhanced support for Japanese and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). Kindle also displays Korean, Cyrillic, Latin, and Greek scripts, and provides free access to several international dictionaries.

Follow along with page numbers

We match the pages of a Kindle book to the text in a print book to identify the corresponding page number. Easily reference and cite passages or read alongside others in a book club or class.

WebKit-based browser

Kindle has an experimental web browser based on WebKit. It's easy to find the information you're looking for right from your Kindle. Kindle enables you to connect to the Kindle Store and access Wikipedia, all over Wi-Fi.

Never lose a book

We automatically back up your entire Kindle library free in the cloud so there's never a worry about losing your books. Re-download wirelessly anytime for free.

Carry and read personal documents

Email documents—including Word, PDF, and more—directly to your Kindle and read them in Kindle format. You can also send documents to Kindle using Send to Kindle.

Get special offers

Love deals? You'll receive special offers and sponsored screensavers directly on your Kindle. Offers display on the Kindle screensaver and on the bottom of the home screen while not in use—they don't interrupt reading.

Read children’s books and comics

Kindle supports children's books with Kindle Text Pop-Up, and comic books with Kindle Panel View which allows you to read a comic book panel by panel.

Organize your library

Organize your Kindle library into customized collections, or categories, to easily access any book you are looking for. You can add an item to multiple collections to make organizing and finding titles even easier.

As has been the case for years, Amazon sloooowwwwly adds new changes and features to the Kindle. This one is no exception. If you've used a Kindle in the past, you're not going to notice much of a change with this one, but since there are some minor upgrades and so forth, I'll briefly go over them:

*** SCREEN ***

The new Kindle is touchscreen and has the typical matte finish with the slightly gray/off-white paper looking background. It's certainly not bright white, but it's also not LCD looking (dark gray.) It does NOT have buttons for page-turning as the older generations do. If you simply must have the page-turning buttons, please search for the older Kindles that offer that. One last thing regarding the screen: this is not a Kindle PaperWhite or Voyage where you have a back-lit screen... this has an unlit, off-white Kindle screen. I will say, the text is noticeably crisper and bolder than I've seen with previous generation Kindles and I believe that's because Amazon is using E-Ink's new "Carta" displays instead of the previously used "Pearl" displays. I love that and have been waiting for years for E-Ink, the Taiwan based company that makes the Kindle screens for Amazon, to improve them. It looks like they're finally getting it!

The new Kindle's screen resolution is 167 ppi which is slightly lower than the Kindle PaperWhite which is 212 ppi, and substantially lower than the Kindle Voyage which boasts an impressive 300 ppi (individual pixels at this density can not be distinguished by the naked eye.) Price-wise though, the base model PaperWhite runs $99 at the time of this review, and the Voyage base model runs $199 so you can see, the more you pay, the better the resolution and features. 167 ppi is fine though... in fact, most webpages are 72 dpi to give you a comparison.

*** SPECIAL OFFERS OR NOT ***

Like other Kindles, you have the choice of purchasing one with "special offers" which is simply a marketing tactic Amazon uses, which, although some people may find annoying, I actually like as it recommends books that I'm actually interested in versus random crap I'd never buy.

*** ON-BOARD STORAGE AND PROCESSOR SPEED ***

One upgrade the new Kindle has is the amount of on-board storage which now allows you to hold thousands of books and of course, it also comes with a slightly faster processor which Amazon claims is 20% faster although honestly, I don't notice the increase in speed. Pages turn quickly and that's all that really matters to me speed-wide. The on-board storage is 4GB, although you also have unlimited access to the Amazon Cloud so there really shouldn't be any worries about storage.

*** BATTERY LIFE ***

Even going back a few years, the Kindle Paper White bragged about a battery that lasted a week versus a day. For very casual reading, that was true with the Paper White although with regular daily use, it was more like 4 days or so, not a week. The new Kindle has a similar claim in that the battery lasts weeks, not days; that appears to be true. You can easily go two weeks with casual reading and most of that is attributed to the fact that there is no on-board light draining the battery.

*** WI-FI CAPABILITY (NOT 3G!)

Books are downloaded quickly through WiFi, usually in less than 30 seconds, and definitely under a minute, unless you have really crappy internet service. THIS IS NOT 3G so you CANNOT download books unless you have access to WiFi. I have never found this a problem as I download my books at home in advance of leaving for a trip or something. Besides, nearly every McDonalds, Starbucks, and hundreds of other retailers and restaurants now offer free WiFi so if you simply must download that book while travelling, go park in a McDonalds parking lot and download the book. It's not worth paying the extra money for the 3G access, especially when it oftentimes raises the product price by $50 or more.

*** DICTIONARY AND HIGHLIGHTING FEATURES ***

Like all new Kindles, the touchscreen has some major advantages, one being that you can click on a word you don't know and pull up the dictionary to learn what it means. Also, you have the option of turning on the "highlight" feature where you can highlight important text AND see what areas of text others have highlighted the most. For someone reading a book for research purposes (writing a paper, review, etc.), this is a nice feature as the parts of the book people find most helpful are usually highlighted, alerting you to its importance.

*** AMAZON PRIME BENEFITS ***

As is the case with all Kindles, subscribing to the Amazon Prime service is going to give you a lot of bang for your buck as you can "borrow" thousands of books for free, and also get special pricing on some items.

*** ACCESS TO YOUR BOOKS ***

Books are stored in the cloud and are accessible by any Kindle device registered to you, as well as from your home computer which gives you plenty of options for reading. Some people use a Kindle PaperWhite or Voyage in bed because of the backlight (as I do) and then have another Kindle that they use for daytime reading. Very rarely do I use my home computer to read the books but it is a nice feature to have for some people.

*** If this review has helped you in any way, please let me know. You can also post comments or ask questions in the comments section below. I try my hardest to include all the important information about the product to help you make an informed purchasing decision and feel comfortable with your purchase. Thank you for taking the time to read my review! ***Read more ›

I've had this Kindle for a while now. Many of the reviews say it all so I don't think I could add much. But I feel like I need to speak on behalf of this Kindle to shield it from reviewers and owners who seem to have no idea what they bought. If this could help clear up any confusion for a first time buyer then writing this is worth it. So I have to begin by asking reviewers that confuse us all?

Do you have any clue what you bought? Let's all say it out loud: THIS KINDLE DOES NOT HAVE A LIGHT!!!!!! It is an entry level model with no light. Amazon has always sold non lighted Kindles, and I still have many of them. They are a cheap way to get into the e-reader scene. Can you read a real book in the dark? Of course not. So these non lighted Kindles are not epic failures for not having a light just as the last novel you bought was not an epic failure for not having a built in light. It is ridiculous to buy this Kindle then give it a 1 star review because it doesn't have a light. Read the product descriptions. This Kindle has no light, the Paperwhite and Voyage do.

Scream all to the heavens: THIS KINDLE DOES NOT HAVE PAGE TURNING BUTTONS!!!! To buy this Kindle then give it a 1 star review because your old Kindle had page turning buttons and this one does not is insane. Could you not see when you clicked on "BUY" that this Kindle had no page turning buttons. Sometimes I think there are two kinds of Kindle owners: those who want page turning buttons and those who don't mind moving their thumb a nano meter to turn a page. If you can tell by my sarcasm, I belong to the latter bunch.

Then of course there are the technically deficient that have no clue what wifi is, are unable to sign on, and blame it on the Kindle. BAM! another 1 star review. Well I feel for you on this one, If you are new to the scene all Kindles come wifi ready, ready to sign on to your wifi set up at home. When this is done you can buy book from your Kindle or computer. All of your purchases are held in that magical storage space called "the cloud" and you can access those from any Kindle registered under your name.

Now for my two cents. This is a great Kindle. The software is the latest, similar to the Paperwhite. It's quick, has any feature you could ask for from an entry level Kindle. I don't understand the hate for touch screen. You should embrace it. See that word on the page you don't know? Touch it with your finger and a dictionary pops up giving you the definition. How many clicks on the Kindle Keyboard would this same function take (still have my Keyboard and love it, but probably like one loves an antique typewriter). As far as page turns go, see my nano meter thumb comment above. Once you get used to it it's a piece of cake. Hey, the first time I picked up an iPhone to type a text message "how are you?" it came out "lskdlj eiieoi c;?" You need to acclimate yourself to a touch screen. Once you do those page turning buttons will start to feel like cheap little bits of plastic that will eventually stop working.

Under a lamp or in natural daylight the text is bold and easy to see. Some fonts are bolder than others. This is also a very light Kindle. I've found kind of a sweet spot for holding Kindles. Pinching the bezel to hold it is awkward. I place the bottom left corner in the middle of my palm, rest the back of it on my four fingers, and tilt it slightly to the left so it doesn't fall in my lap. My thumb is perfectly free to move that nano meter to turn a page.

So let's sum up:*This Kindle does not have a light.*This Kindle does not have page turning buttons.*This Kindle (like all Kindles) has wifi capability. When you are home on your wifi you can buy and download books from the Kindle store. If you go to the beach, you cannot. If you want this then get 3G. This is like a cell phone. Personally I've never needed to buy a book outside of my home so never felt the need for 3G.

I am writing this from the perspective of being a long-time experienced Kindle user vs. someone brand new. From an overall perspective, considering the pricing of the Kindle with Special Offers at $79 vs. higher amounts for the different flavors of Kindle available today, this one is a bargain. If you have wanted to get your kids a Kindle to encourage reading as well as sharing of books but hesitated because $119 to $400+ is a lot of money to risk with a child, maybe at $79 this is your price point.

From a size standpoint, the reading screen is the exact same size as the other e-Ink Kindles. It is slightly thicker - but slightly lighter - than the Kindle Paperwhite, but to me it's not really a noticeable difference when you're holding it in a protective cover.

Opening up the box, included with the Kindle is a micro-USB cord but no power adapter. That's really annoying. Interestingly, and it seems rather chicken of Amazon, a power adaptor has to be purchased separately for $15 if you purchase it at the same time as you purchase the Kindle (or $20 if you purchase it later), so if you already have a micro-USB charger handy I wouldn't order one of the chargers.

There are no page buttons - no buttons at all except for the power button - and turning the page is as easy as tapping the side of the screen with your thumb while you're reading, or swiping the screen with your finger.

Reading is easy on this one: in comparison to my Kindle Keyboard, the previous version of Kindle, and a Kindle DX the letters on the screen are much, much darker and easier to read: the display is crisp and dark. Looking at the display side-by-side in the same location of an eBook against the versions of Kindle mentioned above, the text on this Kindle is much darker and reads a lot better. Compared to a Paperwhite it is not as dark but those results are to be expected since the Paperwhite has 25%+ more pixels per inch, but at this price point that's not too big of a concern for me as each new version of the Kindle gets better and better with the fonts and screen display and this one is pretty darn good - you want to be able to read what you're supposed to, right?

If you like the text-to-speech feature of previous Kindle models or listened to music with your previous Kindle, please be aware there are no speakers nor is there a plug for headphones.

Web surfing speed with the wireless is about the same as with other versions of the e-Ink Kindles: slow as Christmas! My usual test of the connectivity on a Kindle was hitting the main pages of the mobile websites of Fox News, CNN, and Google. I pushed "go" or "enter" buttons / icons at the same time on each and did not see a visible difference in the load speeds start to finish: I was about 50 yards away from my wireless router at home with a couple of walls in the way for the wireless test, with similar results at my office after the Kindle arrived. I did try to check one of my Google email accounts but it crashed. I learned a couple of years ago to not try and surf the Internet with an e-Ink Kindle because it's so darn slow; besides, I use the Kindle to read a book and I can surf the Internet or check my email on my other devices

In comparison the previous version of Kindle this one is replacing, other than the crisper text / fonts from the improved screen display, as far as I can tell this new version of Kindle has the same technical specifications of the previous Kindle: about the same size, same internal memory. If you had a precious version of the Kindle this version is replacing, that means you can use the same cover as the previous version.

Battery life is supposed to last "...weeks on a single charge" but I doubt it: I charged it up 100% late yesterday afternoon and, 24 hours later, the battery meter is indicating about 50% left. This was with the Wi-Fi left on but the Kindle not being used overnight as I left it in the office in sleep mode. Time will tell if this is going to be a problem or not.

It did take a few minutes to get this model up and running as, in addition to the normal making sure it is registered and going through a mandatory tutorial on which areas of the screen to tap to perform various functions, there is a lot of Amazon marketing you have to weed through: do you want to sign up for Goodreads (an Amazon affiliate), would you like to sign up for Kindle Unlimited (for a monthly recurring revenue stream to Amazon), would you like to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts so your're friends / family / perfect strangers can be voyeuristic on what you are reading (absolutely not for me).

You can also sign up for parental controls with this version which I think is a great idea - sometimes you don't want your children to read what you are reading.

One annoying thing (to me, at least) is the automatic import of the various categories / collections you have linked to your Amazon account onto this version and links to the books in the Cloud that you can immediately download in the same category on the new Kindle. If you're replacing an older Kindle with this one that could be handy, but if you have other people on your account / family in households with more than one Kindle, that can be a pain in the neck because, for example, my wife and I generally have different tastes in books - I don't want her books cluttering up my Kindle's screen and she feels the same way about mine. IT's not a deal killer, but it does make you wade through a lot of stuff.

Despite some of my nits above, as a parent whose children can be hard on electronics I likethis version, and think with this $79 price point it will help to continue to explode the eBook revolution even faster as they get in more people's hands. If you have not purchased a Kindle before due to price, need a cheaper replacement than the other versions, or maybe a relative or a friend has hesitated to get one this one is in your price zone, I would recommend this one!Read more ›